Mosaic Begonia and a Cute Cat

Mosaic Begonia chloristica

This weekend my friends Mike, Gary and I went to Los Angeles to attend the Westchester Begonia Show and visit with friends. I submitted my mosaic of Begonia chloristicta and won a blue ribbon. The mosaic frame also won Best in Division for the arts division. What a thrill! I used the colors of the Begonia's botanical picture in the frame's vitreous tiles.

On the right is a picture of me with the mosaic. Life is Good!

You can just barely see the division trophy (bottom left) which was a pretty ceramic pot. I probably won't be breaking it up for the next mosaic!

On Friday night, Mike spoke to an appreciative crowd at the South Bay Begonia Branch. Our dear friend Eva took us to dinner at Cozy Mels in South Bay where I had a blue margarita. What could be better! Tequila in my favorite color.

And below is the darling Biscotti sitting atop the irrigation cover. He's hoping a bird will come by to check out the birdhouses.

Biscotti

Tequila Bottle Grouted

The tequila bottle & blue agave mosaic has been grouted in a combination of mocha and haystack. I didn't want the grout too dark or too light (oh the woes of grouting). I think I like it. All the stained glass shows up well.

And Prancer Dancer has a lot to say about it too.

Tequila Bottles and Mosaics

Blue Agave Tequila Mosaic

On the left is the first tequila bottle my friend Gary fused for me. It is now glued and ready for grout tomorrow. I really like the Blue Agave look. It reminds me of Mexico.

Below is the second bottle he did for me. This is a Partida Tequila bottle that had the writing etched on the bottle. Perhaps a brighter background would have helped show off how amazing it looks.

And Saturday night we had dinner at the wonderful Japanese restaurant Takenoya in Goleta. I got the second pink bottle of Sake and dear Gary will fuse both of them together in his kiln. Maybe someday I'll have to get a kiln of my own so I don't have impose upon him.

Partida Tequila

Holidays and Mosaics

It's the day after Thanksgiving so I think it is OK to start decorating for the holidays. So I have my mosaic stocking on the front door!

And the Blue Agave tequila bottle mosaic below is getting better and better. I will try to finish gluing today.

Tomorrow is the Holiday Bazaar at the Oreana Winery so I've got the car packed and ready to go. I'll have at least 25 mosaics for sale, all priced for holiday gift-giving.

If you get a chance, stop down at 205 Anacapa Street, across from the Amtrak station, and see all the wonderful EtsySB artists and their art.

Rainy Day Mosaics

It was a very rainy day yesterday, so we stayed in the house and worked on mosaics. The cats slept a lot.

Here is the blue agave mosaic with the fused tequila bottle. I used some black sparkly Van Gogh glass for the border. Obviously I took this picture indoors so you can't really see how cool the Agave leaves look. Today the sun is rising so I'll take another picture.

And here are the double-decker sleepy boys. Prancer is below on their fancy tree-shaped cat tree. You can just see the long shape of Biscotti up on top of the room divider. There are fluorescent lights up there so it is warm.